a Prisoner of War in Germany but claimed he had only joined the Irish Brigade to facilitate his escape from Germany so he could get back to his regiment and continue fighting for King and Country. Bailey was described as being of humble origin and had previously served as a soldier in the British army for nine years with an exemplary record. In the event the prosecution agreed to offer no evidence and Gregory saw his client acquitted. Politics In 1913, the sitting Liberal MP for the Southern Division of Derbyshire, Sir Henry Herbert Raphael, announced that he would not be standing at the next election through ill-health, although he had also fallen out with the party over the issue of land reform. South Derbyshire Liberal Association wished at first to select the Hon. A L Stanley, the former MP for Eddisbury but he was appointed Governor of Victoria in 1914 and was not available. In 1914 Gregory was selected as their prospective parliamentary candidate for a general election expected to take place in 1915. In 1918 he was chosen as the Coalition Liberal candidate for Derbyshire South at the general election. He was one of the few Liberals to be awarded the Coalition coupon in the Midlands and in a straight fight with Labour he won 66% of the poll and a majority of 7,581 votes. He decided not to stand for re-election in 1922. Honours and appointments In 1935 Gregory received a knighthood in the New Years Honours list. As a well-known lawyer and judge, and with political connections, Gregory was in frequent demand to sit on or to chair official commissions, boards of inquiry and labour arbitration tribunals. The most important of these assignments was to chair the Royal Commission on Unemployment Insurance in 1930. The work of this commission was one of the factors which led to the introduction in 1931 of the National Government. The report of the Commission recommended that unemployment benefit be cut by 30%, that certain anomalies should be eliminated, that benefit should only be paid for 26 weeks a year and that some means testing should be introduced. The Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald did not implement these measures in full and when the all-party committee to look into government finances, including the crucial issue of unemployment benefits, under the chairmanship of Sir George May reported in July 1931, the government